Death merely sleeps.

Garric's Diary: Dec 17

We break into prison

After the arrest of Gibbs, he is taken to the town prison. Nicki(m) will stand guard over him in the morning – more to ensure that he isn’t harmed than to prevent escape.

Czynforde and Yorrick are patrolling The Restlands to help prevent further zombie invasion.

I will need to sleep for a while, and will then check back in on Nicki(m) and Gibbs.

Dragos has done some more research and learned about the Whispering Way: secrets and philosophies that are passed along in secrets, in whispers. He also has learned that at the time of the fire, there were 5 notorious prisoners who were there, and had seized control of the dungeon. They had been in control of the lower levels for several hours. The warden (Hawkren) triggered a deadfall to secure the prison – but trapped 24 guards and himself (and his wife?) in the basement at the same time. The GUARDS started the fire in an effort to quell the riot, but it got out of control.

Dragos has also learned more about some of these notorious prisoners. Father Charlatan. His real name was Sefic Corvin. He was technically not a murderer – he simply commited so many blasphemies that the churches demanded his punishment. He travelled Ustalev disguised as a priest – but was part of the Sczarni (a Varisian mafia-style organization, active all over Varisia and neighboring countries (including Ustalev). He buddies had murdered 6 or so city guards in an attempt to free him, but it didn’t suceed.

Vance Saetressle, also known as The Lopper, would stalk his prey by hiding in the most unlikely of places with little supplies. Once the moment was right though, he would emerge and sever his victim’s heads with a handaxe. At this point, Dragos’ research is interrupted by the closing of the building for the night.

Talked to Gibbs. His theory is that it is the fault of The Professor. Not open to reason.

The house is a little beaten up after last night… The daughter will have to get a glazier to come in from Lepistadt. She knows we’ll have to go there after the 30 days (to return the books), and hopes that we can take an order for more glass to a glazier there.

Clarification: the wife’s remains were found on the GROUND level, NOT the dungeon!

Hear rumors that, near sundown, you can hear the warden’s wife. Also, one of the barmaids at the Laughing Demon was fired after an argument with Zocar (who is known to NEVER fire anyone!)

Pretty sure that Palantine Eye book (the locked book) is a very complex lock. I am able to open it. I do not recognize the language, so I close the book back up, do not relock it, and mention it to Dragos.

As we heard the rumor about the warden’s wife at sundown… we wander off to the prison to do some initial investigation. The home on the prison grounds, near the main entrance, seems ready to collapse under any weight, so we avoid it. The prison itself seems to be in bad shape as well…. though perhaps in better condition. Many gargoyles still line the building, and the windows along the walls are barred. The two Nicki’s get a sinking feeling – they’ve seen these bars before (in their visions). The balcony above the main entrance seems likely to fall if anyone stands on it – avoid stepping out onto it. We avoid entering

Exploring the prison grounds, we find a marshy area formed near a collapsed section of the wall in the SE. In addition, the section of prison here has experienced a structural failure – and a possible alternate entrace. Rather then entering here, we keep exploring.

We find a semi-stable prison guard tower in the NW corner of the prison. We climb up, and find that the wooden stairs within are fairly rotten, but otherwise see no real issues. We start exploring the rest of the grounds from the height of the wall. Oddly, there are not guard towers at each corner. We do see balconies and platforms all over the prison. We suspect these were used by the guards to keep an eye on the grounds. Near one tower, the rats seem to be particularly thick, and end up swarming us. We fight them off, and they disperse. After finishing up exploring along the wall, we head to the ground, and check the ground level of the towers. There is nothing to be seen. We also never hear the warden’s wife.

When we return that night, Nicki(f) checks the Palantine Eye book, and identifies it as being Varisian – but it is in code. She also identies the oiaja board, in terms of how to use it – we can ask the spirits (if present), one question and get a yes or no answer. Or, we can get possessed. It depends on our will save…. FUN!

Day 9 (confirmed with the DM)

The next morning, we go to check in on Gibbs. During the night, he woke up, walked to the bars, shook them, and started screaming. He denies this ever happened, has no memories of it, and thinks he’s being set up.

Dragos does more research on the Whispering Way. He learned that a focus of it was on the making of liches and bringing back the old Lich King. People suspected of knowing too much would be killed, and their mouths mutilated so as to prevent their corpses from speaking.

Dragos also learned more about the prisoners:

The Moss Water Maurader, a dwarf named Ispen Onyxcudgel, lived in the town of Mosswater. Only 5 years before the town was overrun and destroyed by monsters from the river, he found out his wife was unfaithful. He slayed her with his hammer, shattering his skull. He become convinced that if he could rebuild he skull, he could get her back. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the narrow blade-shaped piece, and started killing others.

The Piper of Illmarsh has no recorded real name. Before he snatched his victims, he taunted them with a flute. He would paralyze his victims with a poison called Lich Dust, and then allow his pet stirges drink them dry. (This sounds like our encounter at the tavern with the stirges)

The Splatterman, Haim Ferryman, was a professor of anthroponumasitics (names and origins), and taught at the Capital. Somewhere along his studies, he encountered a succubus. After that, he became obsesses with the poswer of a person’s name, and how he could terrify and control people. He ended up losing tenure as a result, and became obsessed with the connection between a name and a person after their death. He arranged for his victim to come across a letter of the victim’s name, one letter at a time. Once he had spelled out her whole name, he would kill his victim in a cunning trap. (This sounds a lot like Gibbs).

The Council has called for a town-meeting in 2 days (Day 11), and tells Dragos about this. They request our attendence at this meeting. The plan is to allow the people to voice their fears, etc. But, they also want to develop a plan of action on what to do moving forward.

In the course of wandering through the town, all of hear more and more about uncharacteristic (particularly violent) encounters between people. Something has the town on edge. Even kids are now getting into fights rather than playing. The whole town seems to be descending into darkness. We hear another new rumor as well – about the prison. One fellow thinks this has to do with Harrowstone – the original executioner’s spirit haunts the western balcony, and on some nights you can his scythe being carried around on the balcony. This villager claims to have seen this himself.

We have 4 iron/glass vials that may be able to trap spirits (the syphons). We need to untwist the casing to open the vial in the same round that a haunt manifests, before or after it manifests. We must be in the area of influence. If it reduces the haunt to 0 hp, the mists turn green and the spirit is gone. If not, it hurts the spirit with positive energy and is otherwise expended.